If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

WANTED, Welding Guru

07-14-2007, 03:35 PM

I am a first time TIG wannabe. I needed some aluminum welding done on my boat, long story short, I could not get anyone to come to my house (boat is in the water). I decided to buy my own welder, I researched, checked out the cheaper china brands and ended up with a Miller Dynasty 200 SD with a finger tip control contractor kit. I have only been able to read a lot but I have no one to show me right from wrong, and I can sure melt some aluminum. First, how can I tell if the HF is working? It seems that the only way to get an arc is if I touch start it. I have been playing with 1/8" pieces of aluminum, I have the machine set to the specs in the manual and from Millers welding calculater. I have been using 3/32 red band tungston sharpened to a point (thats what the miller store told me to use). It seems that maybe its way to hot, do I get it hot at first and then turn it down when a puddle forms? What would a good learning project be, trying to stick two pieces together or just try to run a normal looking bead on a piece of flat stock? Any help will be a big help. Are there any good videos or DVD's that will show me some pointers? Thanks

Comment

My father and I have been learning welding on our own in preparation for an upcoming project. I am quite new to welding, however, I have a few comments that you may find useful. I know you wanted a guru, so I hope you are not too disappointed.

My first recommendation is to read everything you can and try to find pictures of both good and bad welds. If you can find someone local to you to show you the ropes, I would recommend it as it would probably get you over some of the initial rough spots.

I would suggest that you may want to start out with mild steel instead of aluminum. Aluminum is somewhat more difficult than steel. It would probably be easier for you to perfect your technique on steel then move to aluminum once you are fairly confident with steel.

You may want to consider getting a foot control. We started with a fingertip control and soon invested in a foot control. I found the fingertip control awkward to use and it certainly impeded my learning. I canít imagine using the fingertip control with aluminum where more current control is required.

I canít comment on the HF start since we have been exclusively using lift-arc starting (the welder is in close proximity to a computer)

You may want to change your tungsten to either orange, yellow, or blue (2% ceriated, 1.5% lanthinated, and 2% lanthinated respectively). Red (thoriated) contains thorium which is slightly radioactive - grinding dust could be harmful. Also, lanthinated tungsten seems to hold up well when doing aluminum (doesnít ball up as fast).

I believe that you should grind a small flat on the end of the tip. There is a page in the manual that describes proper tungsten preparation.

Finally, practice, practice, practice and when your done, practice some more. You will probably want to start with just running beads and move on to basic joints - butt, lap, outside corner, fillet (listed in order of difficulty for me). A good first project might be to build a cart to hold the welder, tank and contractor kit (this is what we are about to attempt).

I hope this was helpful, and I am sure that some more experienced people will chime in.

Comment

There's a guy on here his name is Bert he lives where you do in FL try and email him or start a thread asking for Bert. He might be able to help ya in person. The rest of us could just assume and speculate what's going on with out pictures.

Comment

???????? I just looked up his profile, Bert's location is Hawaii???????? My geography may be a little rusty, but I recall Hawaii and Florida about as far apart as you can get and still stay in the US ?? Or maybe they moved closer together when I wasn't looking???

Comment

Practice making beads in aluminum flat stock, no filler. Dwell at the start until the pool forms, then move and lower amps briefly while pausing. With filler, it just takes time to find what works for you, but if it's consistently too hot, back off your amps 25-33% each pause/dab you do. Have fun.

Comment

Really? I haven't used my Dynasty 200 yet, Tig was all on schools Synchrowave 350. We set it to ac, put the torch about 1/4" away from a piece of scrap aluminum and pressed down on the pedal to get the ball first. If you don't and keep the tip sharp, when you start tigging aluminum, it's going to ball up anyway. With the 200 inverter, you're telling me the tip will stay sharp while you tig?

Comment

Switch your rig to DC positive, keep the amps down, and the tip will form a ball. It may take a couple tries to get it neat. Flip back to AC and weld away.

DO NOT BALL THE TUNGSTEN! I don't mean to shout, but even though I am just a beginner myself, I have done considerable research and reading and balled tungsten in not appropriate for inverter machines (e.g. Dynasty 200). In fact, as I understand it, it is actually possible to damage an inverter based machine by trying to ball the tungsten. I do not even think you will be able to start an arc with balled tungsten as it disperses the energy over a greater surface area.

Prepare the tungsten as it suggests in the manual - Grind to a point and grind a small flat spot at the tip. The manual does show a picture of balled tungsten (but not how to prepare balled tungsten), however, I believe that the picture is there either erroneously or for comparison. DON'T BALL THE TUNGSTEN!

With the 200 inverter, you're telling me the tip will stay sharp while you tig?

Depending on the balance and the type of tungsten, it will ball up over time. I was using 2% ceriated and found that it would ball up quite quickly. Eventially, it would ball up to a point that I could no longer start an arc and I would have to regrind it. Even when it got to that point, the tip looked like a dull pencil (not completely round like tungsten that is used for transformer based machines). Lanthinated tungsten holds its tip much better than the ceriated tungsten